Tributes flow for Cooroy butcher Robert Grady as daughter reveals last moments

The death of a beloved father of three has prompted an emotional outpouring from the Cooroy community, as his heartbroken daughter remembers the things she adored most about her dad.

Robert Grady and his daughter, Jaclyn, on her wedding day.

When Jaclyn Grady last saw her dad Robert Grady, he was working in his backyard of his Black Mountain home and playing with his grandchildren.

A few days later, on October 18, Mr Grady died suddenly.

Ms Grady said she had spent every day since her 61-year-old father’s death at his Noosa hinterland home.

“We’re finding it peaceful to be here,” she said.

The popular butcher, horse trainer and chicken breeder was born in Nambour on November 4, 1960, and spent his life in the Cooroy region.

Many residents posted online about how much they would miss him.

Robert Grady and his daughter, Jaclyn, on her wedding day.

“Great man taken way before his time,” one commenter said.

“Will miss our cheeky and always smiling butcher.”

Robert Grady and his extended family.

Another wrote that he was an “amazing” man who would be missed by many.

Mr Grady did his apprenticeship with a Noosa butcher before working at different shops in the area and eventually moving into farm butchering.

It was at one of those Noosa shops that he met his wife-to-be, Deanne.

“Mum lived in Peregian, she moved up from Victoria at a young age,” Ms Grady said.

Robert Grady with his oldest son, Thomas, right, and youngest son, Adam, left.

“Dad was working at the butcher shop in Noosa, she worked next door in the doctor’s surgery and then it went on from there.”

The couple of 40 years settled at the 4.8ha property that Mr Grady bought when he was 17 years old, and raised their three children, Thomas, Jaclyn and Adam.

Mr Grady was passionate about horses, and his daughter said he had wanted to become a jockey but his size put a stop to it.

“He trained sprint racing horses and rode in picnic races,” she said.

“He had a huge love for chooks, too.”

Mr Grady showed pit bantams at shows across the district and even bred his own line.

His heartbroken daughter said her dad was a fun-loving person and she had too many great memories of him to pick a favourite.

“He also had a such a kind heart that he would sit and listen and be there for people no matter what,” she said.

Mr Grady’s funeral is at 1pm on Friday, at Gregson and Weight in Noosaville.